Drawn into the inner life of God (Bishop Robert Barron)

  This great feast of the Baptism of the Lord is a good time to reflect on the significance of the sacrament of the baptism.  One of the earliest descriptions of baptism in our tradition is vitae spiritualis ianua, which means the door to the spiritual life.

  To grasp the full meaning of this to to understand something decisive about Christianity.  For Christianity is not primarily about becoming a good person or doing the right thing.  To be a Christian is to be grafted onto Christ and hence drawn into the dynamics of the inner life of God.  We don’t speak simply of following or imitating Jesus.  We speak of becoming a member of his Mystical Body.

  Do you see why it is so important that we are baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit?  For baptism draws us into the relationship between the Father and the Son – which is to say, in the Holy Spirit.  Baptism, therefore, is all about grace – our incorporation, through the power of God’s love, into God’s own life.

--Bishop Robert Barron, 

Daily Reflection, January 13, 2019

Image source:  Antonio Bonazza, The Baptism of Jesus Christ, Padua Cathedral, ca. 1740,  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Bonazza#/media/File:Duomo_(Padua)_-_Antonio_Bonazza_-_Statues_of_the_baptism_of_Jesus_Christ.jpg